Erik Talkin, CEO of the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, is a recognized innovator and leader in America’s food bank network.Previously, he was a board member of the California Association of Food Banks and sat on the National Advisory Council of Feeding America. Committed to helping people move from simple charity to building long-term food security, Erik authored Hunger into Health and has helped create innovative, national-award-winning children’s nutrition education programs such as Healthy School Pantry and Kid’s Farmers Market.Erik is also a writer and filmmaker and has served as a principal in two production companies. His short film The Gallery, starring Helena Bonham Carter, was selected for the London Film Festival. He has won an International Television Association Award for writing and directing educational drama and his theatrical work has been produced on the London Fringe.Erik lives in Santa Barbara, California.Laura Ramos has loved to draw and create since she was tiny, and is still infamous for the messes she would make as a child. She’s also been a voracious reader for as long as she can remember and has been shaped by books her entire life. Although her early career goal was to become an author, her path to children’s book illustration was circuitous, involving two degrees in architecture, a number of years working in the field, becoming a mom and falling in love with children’s literature all over again, and rediscovering her love for drawing. Laura lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband, Travis, and four children.?

“Talkin?tosses?a seed ball of?new ideas?into our hands, prompting us to explore the origin of?the?food system—and sprouting hope that we can repair?what’s been broken and neglected.”

Erik Talkin, CEO of the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, is a recognized innovator and leader in America’s food bank network.Previously, he was a board member of the California Association of Food Banks and sat on the National Advisory Council of Feeding America. Committed to helping people move from simple charity to building long-term food security, Erik authored Hunger into Health and has helped create innovative, national-award-winning children’s nutrition education programs such as Healthy School Pantry and Kid’s Farmers Market.Erik is also a writer and filmmaker and has served as a principal in two production companies. His short film The Gallery, starring Helena Bonham Carter, was selected for the London Film Festival. He has won an International Television Association Award for writing and directing educational drama and his theatrical work has been produced on the London Fringe.Erik lives in Santa Barbara, California.Laura Ramos has loved to draw and create since she was tiny, and is still infamous for the messes she would make as a child. She’s also been a voracious reader for as long as she can remember and has been shaped by books her entire life. Although her early career goal was to become an author, her path to children’s book illustration was circuitous, involving two degrees in architecture, a number of years working in the field, becoming a mom and falling in love with children’s literature all over again, and rediscovering her love for drawing. Laura lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband, Travis, and four children.?

“Talkin?tosses?a seed ball of?new ideas?into our hands, prompting us to explore the origin of?the?food system—and sprouting hope that we can repair?what’s been broken and neglected.”

Erik Talkin, CEO of the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, is a recognized innovator and leader in America’s food bank network.Previously, he was a board member of the California Association of Food Banks and sat on the National Advisory Council of Feeding America. Committed to helping people move from simple charity to building long-term food security, Erik authored Hunger into Health and has helped create innovative, national-award-winning children’s nutrition education programs such as Healthy School Pantry and Kid’s Farmers Market.Erik is also a writer and filmmaker and has served as a principal in two production companies. His short film The Gallery, starring Helena Bonham Carter, was selected for the London Film Festival. He has won an International Television Association Award for writing and directing educational drama and his theatrical work has been produced on the London Fringe.Erik lives in Santa Barbara, California.Laura Ramos has loved to draw and create since she was tiny, and is still infamous for the messes she would make as a child. She’s also been a voracious reader for as long as she can remember and has been shaped by books her entire life. Although her early career goal was to become an author, her path to children’s book illustration was circuitous, involving two degrees in architecture, a number of years working in the field, becoming a mom and falling in love with children’s literature all over again, and rediscovering her love for drawing. Laura lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband, Travis, and four children.?

“Talkin?tosses?a seed ball of?new ideas?into our hands, prompting us to explore the origin of?the?food system—and sprouting hope that we can repair?what’s been broken and neglected.”